I bear witness to immortality in the human world.

Chapter 9 Spring Tax
Spring begins.

Full of vitality, everything is in full swing.

After the cold winter, spring arrives, and the world recovers. As the earth warms, crops grow, life flourishes, and all sorts of jobs come into being. Basically, as long as one survives the cold winter, very few people will starve to death.

But at the same time, as hunger and cold recede and all things revive, a new crisis also arises: from the beginning of spring, all sorts of monsters and evil spirits will become more active.

Most low-level demons are not much different from wild beasts in their habits, except that they are more powerful, faster, and more brutal and bloodthirsty.

"In a few days, it will be time to find a way to make a living."

Wu Ming pondered to himself.

Previously, he was unable to change his current situation, so he devoted himself to martial arts. Now that he has cultivated his blood energy and become a blood-coagulating martial artist, he naturally has to face the new situation.

On the one hand, now that he has the ability to earn money, he should start to improve his family's life. Liu and Wu Qi have worked hard for most of their lives to help him learn martial arts, and now it is time for him to repay them.

On the other hand, after becoming a Blood Condensation Martial Artist, one can hardly live without fine grains and meat. Not to mention eating meat at every meal, one must at least eat meat every day to nourish one's blood and qi. Otherwise, if one's blood and qi are not nourished for a long time, one will tend to become weak and one's physique will not be able to maintain the peak state of a martial artist.

In martial arts training, one either progresses or regresses.

Once you step through this threshold, you enter a completely new world, and everything is different. Warriors no longer eat meat for their own pleasure, but as a necessity. The stronger the warrior, the greater his need for blood.

"Practicing martial arts is indeed expensive."

Wu Ming muttered to himself another of the clan leader Wu Qu's remarks, which he found to be true.

Warriors have a different status and can earn far more money than ordinary people, but their daily expenses are also much higher. Just maintaining their own condition is a considerable expense, and if they want to advance further, the resources they need are even greater.

"Once I become a Blood Clotting Warrior, I will be qualified to go to Jingye City to find some well-paid jobs. However, I am not in a hurry for now and will rest for a while longer."

For now, the dried meat and refined grains at home are enough for him to eat for a while. He also needs to use this time to nourish his body with the condensed blood energy, allowing his body to complete the transformation after blood clotting.

After that, Wu Ming needed to consider entering the city.

He knew little about the situation faced by the Blood Clotting Warriors and was also unfamiliar with the affairs of the city. He would need to consult with the clan chief, Wu Qu, later.

……

After condensing his blood and qi, Wu Ming's body was undergoing a transformation every day.

This transformation is different from his previous reliance on meat and refined grains to nourish his body. Before, he ate his fill of refined grains and supplemented them with dried meat, which resulted in obvious changes in his appearance. His muscles were noticeably more solid and his body was stronger. However, that strength was only a superficial appearance. After becoming a Blood Coagulation Warrior, the transformation was in his inner essence.

In the half month after condensing his blood and qi, Wu Ming's body not only showed no signs of continuing to grow stronger, but it also shrank slightly compared to before. However, Wu Ming was very clear that his strength could be said to be increasing day by day, which was completely different from before.

in the courtyard.

Wu Ming was wearing old clothes with several patches sewn on. Although the clothes were old, they were still clean and tidy. He didn't look much different from a month or so ago, but if you looked closely, his spirit and energy were different.

His eyes were bright and clear, and there was a hint of confidence and self-assurance in them. As the saying goes, a strong body and a firm mind are worse than having physical strength in one's body.

Facing the rising sun, Wu Ming remained in the Pure Yang Blood-Guiding Stance. This stance not only guides blood and qi but is also a fundamental skill for martial artists, stimulating the blood and qi in the dantian and causing it to surge. At this moment, Wu Ming could feel an immense force within his arms. Once unleashed, he could easily overturn a millstone weighing two or three hundred pounds with a single hand—a strength far beyond the reach of ordinary people.

that's it,
Wu Ming stood in the morning light, bathed in sunlight, in a static posture. After an unknown amount of time, his gaze suddenly shifted, looking towards the direction of the village entrance.

At this moment, a large number of people had gathered at the entrance of Wu Village, making it quite noisy and bustling.

"What happened again?"

Wu Ming looked at the commotion at the village entrance, his gaze sharpened slightly, then he exhaled and slowly put away his martial arts stance.

Just as he finished his practice, a familiar figure was walking towards the courtyard from not far away, carrying a coarse cloth sack on his back. It was Wu Qi, who was returning from working in Jingye City.

"father."

Wu Ming immediately went out of the yard, walked over, took the sack from Wu Qi's shoulder, and asked, "What happened at the village entrance?"

"The people collecting the spring tax in the city have arrived."

Wu Qi nodded, his face slightly somber, looking somewhat gloomy. As he walked into the courtyard with Wu Ming, he said in a deep voice, "The spring tax has increased again this year. It's now two taels of silver per person, and our family will have to pay six taels."

Taxes and corvée labor.

This is one of the most troublesome livelihood problems that ordinary people at the bottom of society have to face. It is often said that the calamity of demons is not as bad as the calamity of taxes, and the evil spirits are not as bad as the corvée labor... The main reason is that although the calamity of demons occurs from time to time, it is not always so. As long as people are careful and lucky, it is normal for ordinary people to never encounter a calamity of demons in their lifetime. However, taxes are levied every year, and no one can escape them.

The so-called "spring tax" refers to the taxes that need to be paid in the spring. These include the most basic "head tax" and "housing tax". In addition, if a family owns land, they also need to pay "land tax", and if they open a shop, they need to pay "commercial tax", and so on.

Wu Ming's family owned no land or shops; the only taxes they were required to pay were head tax and housing tax.

Last year, each person had to pay 1.6 taels of silver, and a family of four paid 6.4 taels. This year, Wu Yu got married, and there were only three people left in the family. They thought they could ease the burden of expenses, but because of the increase in spring tax, they still had to pay a full 6 taels of silver.

Six taels of silver was undoubtedly a huge sum of money for a poor family.

"Is it time to pay the spring tax?"

Just then, Liu, who was inside the house, heard the commotion and came out leaning on her cane.

Wu Qi nodded to Liu Shi and said, "Our family will have to pay six taels this year."

"Six taels? How did it increase so much?"

Liu was taken aback and said, "The last time the spring tax was raised was eleven years ago, wasn't it? Was it a head tax increase?"

Wu Qi sat down on a stone stool in the courtyard and said somewhat sullenly, "No, I heard that the increase is in the housing tax. It is said that in recent years, demons have appeared frequently, and the Demon Town and the Cautious Punishment Divisions in the inner city have been busy all day long. In order to expand their manpower, they raised the housing tax."

"That can't be raised this much! And after paying so much housing tax, we haven't seen the demons completely eradicated. Before, Xiao Liu's grandfather suffered from demonic possession, Xiao Zhong was also harmed by evil spirits, and even our Ming'er almost lost his life..."

Liu muttered to herself, her face grim.

Paying an extra four qian of silver might not mean much to wealthy families, but for poor families, that extra four qian of silver in taxes could mean the difference between being full and starving, or even starving to death!
(End of this chapter)